Five Fontana Unified seniors received Accepting the Challenge of Excellence (ACE) awards from the Exchange Club of Fontana. The award comes with a $500 scholarship and recognizes students who have made impressive changes in their outlook and academic performance, enabling them to overcome adversities and prepare for graduation.
South El Monte High School will host a virtual Golden Eagle Award Show – which will be livestreamed on Instagram Live, YouTube Live and Facebook Live – at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 28. The program will honor the school’s high-achieving students, including its six valedictorians, who are heading to such universities as Stanford, UCLA and UC Berkeley. The event is the latest in a series of inventive solutions to honoring El Monte Union’s 1,800 graduating seniors while following the county’s social distancing guidelines and facial covering requirements. Over the last two weeks, the District's high schools held delivery programs, allowing students to pick up caps and gowns, medals and other graduation regalia from their cars. Staff and teachers also rallied together to deliver personalized Class of 2020 yard signs to families.
Fontana Unified School District kicked off commencement activities with three socially distant, drive-thru graduations at Ontario International Speedway on May 28. Students from Fontana Adult School, Eric Birch High School and Citrus High School donned commemorative masks, departed their vehicles and accepted their diploma onstage against a backdrop of commercial airplanes. The ceremonies were accompanied by a virtual presentation of speeches built into a livestream of the diploma conferral. The District will switch gears to Auto Club Speedway for its comprehensive high school graduations, held alongside victory lane. Summit and A.B. Miller high schools’ ceremonies will occur Tuesday, June 2; Kaiser and Fontana high schools will take place Wednesday, June 3 and Jurupa Hills High School will celebrate its graduates Thursday, June 4.
Fontana Unified School District will partner with Auto Club Speedway and Ontario International Airport to provide the Class of 2020 with a remarkable sendoff – drive-up graduation ceremonies that will allow students to celebrate together while observing health safety guidelines. District festivities will take flight at Ontario International Airport, starting with Fontana Adult School, Eric Birch High School and Citrus High School’s commencement ceremonies on Thursday, May 28. The District will then switch gears to the Auto Club Speedway, where the comprehensive high schools will hold their graduations alongside victory lane. Summit and A.B. Miller high schools’ ceremonies will occur on Tuesday, June 2; Kaiser and Fontana high schools will take place on Wednesday, June 3, and Jurupa Hills High School will celebrate its graduates on Thursday, June 4.
Summit High School students Leslie Madrigal and Brian Garay and Almeria Middle School student Alyha Madrigal are headed to nationals after being named National History Day California champions. All three students competed in the virtual contest, earning top scores for their exhibits in the senior and junior divisions, respectively. They will compete in the National History Day contest, held virtually from Sunday, June 14 to Saturday, June 20. This year, four FUSD students qualified for the state competition after their success at the San Bernardino County History Day.
Summit High School senior Nicole Quinonez-Frias’ raw and emotional approach to highlighting cultural stigmas around depression and suicide, captured in a 60-second film, has earned statewide recognition as a category winner in the Directing Change Program and Film Contest. Quinonez-Frias’ film, titled “Our Story,” captured first place statewide in the Through the Lens of Culture – Suicide Prevention category, earning her a $1,000 prize. She is the first Summit High TV Production student to win an event in the competition. The Directing Change Program and Film Contest is part of Each Mind Matters: California’s Mental Health Movement. The program offers students an opportunity to lend their perspective to the movement by creating PSAs about suicide prevention and mental health, which are used to support awareness, education and advocacy efforts. Quinonez-Frias plans to attend UC Riverside in the fall.
A.B. Miller High School senior Claudia Villegas Rios has been named a Cal State San Bernardino President's Academic Excellence Scholars (PAES) award recipient, which recognizes students from San Bernardino County who graduate in the top 1% of their high school class. PAES award recipients receive funding to cover any tuition or fees not covered by state or federal financial aid, a supplemental award to cover first-year housing costs, and automatic admission to the University Honors Program.
Fontana Unified School District will provide high-speed internet access for its more than 36,000 students – at home and in their community – by creating the nation’s first Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) private network of its scale dedicated to education. The Board of Education on April 15 approved a five-year initiative, in partnership with Crown Castle Fiber LLC, to establish a private cellular network that students can access on District-issued devices.
Southridge Tech Middle School has been named a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP), marking a milestone in the District’s efforts to establish an IB Continuum. As a candidate school – a status achieved ahead of the District’s schedule – Southridge Tech will begin to develop its MYP units of study and pursue authorization as an IB World School. MYP provides a rigorous, inquiry-led framework of learning that fosters creative and critical thinking.
A.B. Miller High School’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program is celebrating a 100% admission rate to four-year universities for the 10th year in a row. AVID aims to narrow the achievement gap between the lowest- and highest-performing students and ensure more students enroll in four-year colleges and universities. Many of A.B. Miller’s AVID seniors will pursue degrees in STEM fields, including biology, chemistry, computer science, nursing and more.